Nobel Prize Winner Among Those to Speak at Once-in-a-Lifetime Event

WHAT: Four internationally acclaimed human-rights activists honored by UMass Lowell – including the recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize – will come together for a once-in-a-lifetime event to share their work with the public, students, faculty and staff.

“Reflections on Peace-Building” will include anti-apartheid champion Albie Sachs, UMass Lowell’s 2014 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies, and three of the past recipients of the honor. They are Leymah Gbowee, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 after uniting Christian and Muslim women in a national protest that helped end the Second Liberian Civil War; Linda Biehl, an American mother who reconciled with two of the men convicted of murdering her daughter in South Africa and now travels with them to teach restorative justice; and Padraig O’Malley, who works to unite divided communities and resolve conflicts in places such as Northern Ireland, South Africa and Iraq.

The free public event will be held in UMass Lowell’s Comley-Lane Theatre in Mahoney Hall on the university’s South Campus at 870 Broadway St., Lowell.

As the 2014 Peace Scholar, Sachs – an influential member of the African National Congress, judge and author – will be in residence at UMass Lowell throughout April, engaging the university community and the public in programs on advancing human rights. Other upcoming events, all of which are also free and open to the public, include:

Nelson Mandela Memorial Groundbreaking – UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan, Sachs, public officials and members of the local African American Alliance are scheduled to help break ground on a city of Lowell memorial that will pay tribute to Mandela, who was Sachs’ friend and colleague. Thursday, April 10, 11 a.m., western lawn, Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lowell. A reception inside the Tsongas Center will follow.

“Soft Vengeance in a Violent World” – Sachs will discuss his work with Mandela to achieve peace in South Africa. Sunday, April 13, 3:30 p.m., Congregation Kerem Shalom, 659 Elm St., Concord.